LONDON: FIFPro, the World Player’s Union for the sport of football has emphasized on the alarming rate at which footballers around the world are getting burnt out due to a hectic schedule throughout the year. It has claimed that a minimum of 15 players haven’t gone an off season break due to playing in UEFA competitions which have been sandwiched between the FIFA World Cup 2018.
A survey was conducted by the players’ representative body amongst 543 players between February and April 2018 out of which 300 of them play for their national teams as well. 46% of them admitted that playing on an average of 50 matches or more across the last two seasons is “too many” to consider. National team duty stretches their schedule even further and gives them less downtime.
A stunning 88% of them also claimed that they needed a mid-season break at least for 2 weeks on an average and 5 weeks of vacation between seasons without taking preseason training into account to recover completely.
“Some of the world’s leading players feel they are playing more than their comfort level, which makes them vulnerable to injury.” Dr. Vincent Gouttebarge, FIFPro Chief Medical Officer, said.
“It’s important, for example, that all national-team members returning to their clubs after the World Cup in Russia are given enough time to fully recuperate.
“Extra recovery time should be given to footballers after long-haul flights that expose them to jetlag; in the survey, 63% of national-team players said long-distance flights affect their recovery, performance or health.”
“The health of players should of course be football’s first priority, ahead of other interests,” Theo van Seggelen, FIFPro General Secretary, said.
“But the reality is many players are coming under extreme pressure to perform at their best in difficult circumstances. We just recently saw many World Cup players being called up to their national team during a FIFA mandatory rest period (May 21-27) and likely they will join their club teams soon after the tournament as well.
“The health and performance capacity of players is not adequately safeguarded in current competition calendars. Together with the other stakeholders we need to urgently set international standards around what we consider are minimum requirements to protect the health of professional footballers and to create a better balance in the international match calendar.”
FIFPro is expected to discuss the match calendar in a meeting with FIFA soon, in which the following recommendations will be proposed –
a) Players must have at least 72 hours recovery time between matches
b) Players must have extra recovery time after long international flights
c) Players must have a mid-season break of 10 to 14 days
d) Players must have an off-season break of 4 to 6 weeks
e) As a general rule, players should have no more than three matches every two weeks
It will be interesting to see if FIFA and more so, UEFA will take these into account since it is likely to have financial implications on top tournaments such as the Champions League and the Europa League besides club football.
